Who Can Access Bitcoin If I Die: Access Behavior After Death
Technical Access Paths After Death of Holder
This memo is published by CustodyStress, an independent Bitcoin custody stress test that produces reference documents for individuals, families, and professionals.
Access Is Not the Same as Inheritance
A holder owns bitcoin. The holder wonders who can access bitcoin if I die. The holder assumes the answer involves legal roles. The spouse inherits. The executor manages. The children receive their share. But access does not follow legal designations. Access follows coordination capability.
This memo examines who can actually access bitcoin after death. It treats access as a coordination property determined by possession and capability, not by legal status alone. It does not provide guidance on how to arrange access or who deserves it.
Access Is Not the Same as Inheritance
Inheritance is a legal concept. A will names heirs. A court confirms distribution. Legal documents establish who owns what. This process determines legal ownership.
Access is an operational concept. Someone finds the keys. Someone knows the password. Someone can move the bitcoin. This capability determines who can actually act.
Who can access my bitcoin after death is a different question than who inherits my bitcoin. An heir may inherit bitcoin they cannot access. A non-heir may have access capability they have no legal right to use.
What Determines Access
Access to bitcoin requires specific things. Private keys or seed phrases. Knowledge of where keys are stored. Ability to use wallet software. Passwords or PINs that protect devices. Understanding of how the pieces fit together.
Whoever has these things can access the bitcoin. The bitcoin does not check legal authority. The bitcoin does not verify inheritance status. The bitcoin recognizes keys. Anyone with the keys can act.
Bitcoin access after death depends on who possesses the required components and who can combine them successfully. Legal designation does not produce these components.
Key Possession
The person who holds the keys can access the bitcoin. This may be the legal heir. This may be someone else. The keys do not distinguish.
The scenario in which a friend helped the holder set up bitcoin years ago and still has a copy of the seed phrase creates access capability in a non-heir. The friend has no legal claim. The friend can move the bitcoin. The friend can access what the legal heir cannot.
Who controls bitcoin after death often depends on who possesses key material, regardless of whether that person has any legal relationship to the estate.
Authority Versus Access
Legal authority and technical access are separate systems. An executor has authority to manage the estate. The executor may not have technical access to the bitcoin. A child has legal inheritance rights. The child may not have access capability.
The scenario in which an executor has full legal authority but no seed phrase creates authority without access. The executor can legally manage the bitcoin. The executor cannot technically reach the bitcoin. Authority exists. Access does not.
Bitcoin inheritance access rights as a legal concept does not translate directly into bitcoin access as a technical reality. The two systems operate independently.
Who Can Actually Act
After death, the question becomes practical. Who can actually move the bitcoin? The answer depends on who has what.
The spouse who knows the password can act. The child who knows nothing cannot act. The friend who has a backup can act. The executor who has only legal documents cannot act. The person who finds the hardware wallet and knows the PIN can act. The person who has authority but no keys cannot act.
Who can access bitcoin if I die becomes a question of coordination and possession, not legal standing.
Unexpected Parties
Access capability may rest with unexpected parties. A tech-savvy friend who helped set things up. A former business partner who shared a wallet. A sibling who was told the seed phrase years ago. A service provider who holds key fragments.
The scenario in which a friend has more access capability than the legal spouse creates unexpected access distribution. The friend helped the holder. The friend has information. The spouse was never involved in bitcoin custody. The spouse has legal rights but cannot exercise them.
Who can access my bitcoin after death may include people the holder did not intend to have access and exclude people the holder intended to have access.
Intended Heirs Without Access
The people intended to receive bitcoin may be unable to access it. The holder intended for the spouse to inherit. The spouse cannot find the keys. The holder intended for children to share the bitcoin. The children do not know bitcoin exists.
The scenario in which a will clearly designates bitcoin to specific heirs but those heirs cannot locate any custody materials creates intended heirs without access. The legal intent is clear. The operational reality blocks it. The heirs inherit something they cannot reach.
Bitcoin access after death does not automatically flow to intended recipients. Intent does not produce capability.
Discovery Determines Access
Access depends on discovery. Someone has to find the custody materials. Someone has to recognize what they found. Someone has to understand how to use what they found.
The scenario in which an heir searches a home and finds a hardware wallet but does not recognize it creates discovery failure. The heir found the access material. The heir did not know what it was. The heir set it aside. Access was possible but not achieved.
Who can access bitcoin if I die includes only those who successfully discover, recognize, and use custody materials. Many people may have theoretical access if they found things. Fewer people actually find them.
Coordination Thresholds
Some custody arrangements require multiple parties to coordinate. Multi-signature wallets need multiple keys. Distributed backups need multiple pieces. Shared custody needs multiple people.
The scenario in which a holder created a two-of-three multi-signature wallet creates a coordination threshold. No single person can access the bitcoin. Two people together can. Access emerges only when required parties align.
Who controls bitcoin after death may be no one person but rather a group that coordinates successfully. The bitcoin remains inaccessible until the coordination threshold is met.
Informal Access Paths
Access paths may exist informally. The holder told a friend the password. The holder showed a coworker where the backup was. The holder gave a neighbor the PIN in case of emergency. These informal paths exist outside legal frameworks.
The scenario in which a neighbor has the holder's hardware wallet PIN but is not mentioned in any estate documents creates an informal access path. The neighbor can access the bitcoin. The neighbor has no legal standing. The informal arrangement created capability without authority.
Bitcoin access after death may flow through informal channels the holder created for convenience or emergencies, not through formal legal inheritance structures.
Exchange Accounts
Bitcoin on exchanges follows different access rules. The exchange controls the keys. The exchange has its own process for deceased account holders. Heirs contact the exchange. The exchange verifies legal authority. The exchange grants access through its own procedures.
The scenario in which an heir contacts an exchange with a death certificate and will creates exchange-mediated access. The exchange does the verification. The exchange translates legal authority into account access. The heir does not need keys.
Who can access my bitcoin after death depends partly on where the bitcoin is held. Exchange-held bitcoin has institutional paths. Self-custodied bitcoin has only what the holder created.
Self-Custodied Bitcoin
Self-custodied bitcoin has no institutional gatekeeper. No company verifies legal authority. No customer service translates documents into access. The keys either exist and are found or they do not.
The scenario in which heirs have clear legal authority over self-custodied bitcoin but cannot find any keys creates complete access failure. Legal authority is established. Technical access does not exist. The bitcoin remains inaccessible.
Bitcoin inheritance access rights over self-custodied bitcoin require the rights holder to also possess operational capability. Rights alone produce nothing.
First Mover Dynamics
Whoever acts first may determine outcomes. If multiple people have access capability, the first to act may move the bitcoin before others can. If a non-heir has keys, they may act before legal processes complete.
The scenario in which a friend with key access moves bitcoin before the executor knows bitcoin exists creates first mover dynamics. The friend acted. The bitcoin moved. The legal process continued without knowing the bitcoin was already gone.
Who controls bitcoin after death may be whoever acts first with capability, regardless of whether that person has legal authority or good intentions.
Capability Without Right
A person may have access capability without legal right to use it. A friend who has keys is not an heir. A former partner who knows the password has no legal claim. A service provider who holds key fragments is not a beneficiary.
The scenario in which someone with capability uses it despite lacking legal right creates capability without right exercise. The person could act. The person did act. The person had no legal authority to act. The bitcoin moved anyway.
Bitcoin access after death may occur through people exercising capability they have no right to exercise. The blockchain does not verify rights. The blockchain accepts valid signatures.
Right Without Capability
A person may have legal right without access capability. The spouse named in the will cannot find keys. The child designated as heir does not understand bitcoin. The executor appointed by the court has only documents.
The scenario in which all legal heirs have clear rights but none have any custody materials creates right without capability. The rights exist. The capability does not. The bitcoin remains controlled by keys that no heir possesses.
Who can access bitcoin if I die may not include any of the people legally entitled to it. Legal entitlement does not create technical capability.
What the Holder Creates
The access landscape after death reflects what the holder created during life. The holder decided who got keys. The holder decided who knew passwords. The holder decided who could find backups. The holder's choices shaped access capability.
The scenario in which a holder shared custody information only with a friend but legally designated a spouse creates a mismatch. The holder's operational choices gave access to the friend. The holder's legal choices gave rights to the spouse. The two do not align.
Who can access my bitcoin after death depends on the access paths the holder created, not the legal designations the holder made.
Outcome
After death, access to bitcoin depends on coordination and possession, not legal designation. Whoever has keys, passwords, and knowledge can act. Legal heirs may lack these things. Non-heirs may have them.
Who can access bitcoin if I die is determined by who possesses required components and can combine them successfully. Legal authority does not produce keys. Inheritance rights do not produce passwords. Intended heirs may have clear legal standing and zero operational capability.
This memo describes access as a coordination property that emerges from possession and capability. It observes that legal frameworks and technical realities operate independently. It does not provide guidance on how to align them or who deserves access.
System Context
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